Confession - I

The winter holiday had begun. Everyone was excited to spend their free time with friends and family despite the fact that they had homework to complete.

On the first weekend of the holiday, Kazuyuki’s friends came over to celebrate his birthday. Kazuyuki appreciated the range of gifts he received. There was a warmth that enveloped the house as he and his friends played games and danced to some music. Throughout the night, Kaede and Ami had a lot of fun messing around together, Daisuke carried on being his usual self, making the others laugh, and Nori ate multiple plates of food. In addition, his mother bought a huge cake with Kazuyuki’s face on it, although it was more like a distorted version of his face. After singing Happy Birthday, the candles were blown out and the cake was cut into pieces.

It was around midnight when the party ended. Daisuke had fainted from exhaustion, and Nori was suffering from a stomach ache due to eating too much. Luckily for them, Kazuyuki’s mother was okay with letting them stay the night. Kaede decided she would also sleep over, leaving Ami the only one to leave. Kazuyuki thanked her for the fun time.

Little did she or the others know that he had been wearing a fake smile the entire time. He did have fun, but all night he felt like something was missing. He knew the heartache he was feeling was due to the girl that disappeared a few weeks ago, and while he tried to pay no attention to it and enjoy the party, there were moments when her face reappeared in his mind, causing him to fall back into his depression. Why was he feeling this way? It had been a while since she disappeared, and it seemed like everyone had moved on, but why couldn’t he?

In his room, he picked up the article Fuyumi had written. Ever since Ami gave it to him, he had read it multiple times, practically memorising the words. Fuyumi had been suffering from a bad case of anxiety, which had restricted her from making friends and maintaining a good relationship with them. It must had been hard for her to interact with people. He came up with theories as to why she had trouble trusting and connecting with people. Was it due to some sort of traumatic event? Was it due to her parent’s treatment of her? The idea that she had been going through so much turmoil made Kazuyuki feel horrible.

The next morning, his friends left.

“See you on our trip, Kazuyuki-kun!” Kaede said, reminding Kazuyuki of their families’ trip.

Maybe this trip would be the perfect distraction he needed. Maybe he could forget all about her and move on.

The Hara and Sano families’ trip arrived quicker than he thought it would. Kaede’s dad had rented a seven-seater car for the two families. Kaede had realised that her friend had been feeling down lately, so throughout the entire trip, she tried her best to cheer him up.

During one of the days of their trip, they visited a shrine. They went through the usual routine of paying their respects, buying warm food, and buying a charm.

Kazuyuki strolled through the busy shrine when he caught a glimpse of a girl with purple hair walking in the crowd. Was he seeing things? It couldn’t be her, could it? His heart skipped a beat when he saw her again, so fuelled by excitement, he hurriedly approached her, only to have his hope crushed when he realised that the person was a complete stranger, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the girl that disappeared a while ago. Devastated by the cruel twist of fate, he retreated into a state of profound melancholy. 

Kaede noticed him in despair, and when he tried to approach him, he ran away. Without a moment’s hesitation, she took off after him, weaving through the crowd to catch up to him.

When she finally caught up to him, she found him sitting alone on a bench. She calmly sat next to him.

“Are you okay?”

“I thought I saw her. I thought I saw her, but it wasn’t her.”

“Saw who?”

“Satō-san.”

At this point, she realised the reason for her friend’s despair.

“I miss her. I miss her so much. I thought I was finally getting over her, but then I thought I saw someone that resembled her, and for some reason, I had some hope that it was her. What was I thinking? She’s gone. I’m never going to see her again. So why can’t I forget her? Why can’t I just move on? Every time I think of her, my heart hurts.”

“Kazuyuki, did you perhaps… like Fuyumi-chan?”

Kazuyuki stayed silent for a bit before softly replying, “Yes. At the time, there was something nagging at my heart, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. But now that she’s gone, the mere thought of her hurts me. It was alone until recently that I realised I liked her.”

He wanted to burst into tears, but he didn’t want to cry in front of Kaede. But then he felt someone’s arms wrap around him and keep them tight to their body. He realised this was Kaede’s way of saying it was okay for him to cry. Accepting his friend’s comfort, for the first time since the day she disappeared, he cried.